The joint building of Narva Eesti High School and Narva Eesti Primary School is a unique challenge of merging two different educational levels into a unified school culture. The building serves both young primary school students and high school students on a daily basis. The separation of spaces by educational level has been solved with different colour schemes – the classrooms for the first two primary school levels are bright yellow, while the classrooms for the third level of primary school and the high school are more subdued, in dull green. The color coding is also reflected in the climbing walls in the primary school area and the cosy sofa corners for private conversations in the upper school levels.
Despite the building’s relatively small square footage, soft furniture, bean bags, and round tables have been provided to allow students to engage in various learning and leisure activities. We have truly made this space our home and are grateful to those who made it happen!
Irene Käosaar, Principal of Narva Eesti High School and Primary School
The educational campus is more than merely schools and a kindergarten, it is part of the new high-quality urban space in Narva. The architecture of the buildings has been put to the service of the society with the deliberate architectural decisions and some clever moves creating a new urban fabric in the historical bastion belt.
The decision to leave the ground floor courtyards open makes the buildings more accessible, inclusive and inviting. The courtyards face the sun to encourage children to use the space around them.
The complex is separated by two street axes, the playful Moonalao Street and the urban Hariduse Street, which connect the existing and the new buildings.
They form a coherent duo with the white wooden kindergarten complementing the black titanium zinc cladding of the school. The building architecture, interior and landscape architecture are three different layers of functionality working together as an integrated whole.
The school was connected to the reconstructed building volume with a glass staircase. The entrance to the state secondary school is located in the lowest part of the building below a 15-metre cantilever canopy. The basic school entrance is partly underground to make the front square multi-level and give the schools their unique features.
The kindergarten is facing the nearby park. The second floor of the kindergarten is divided into smaller gabled volumes giving it a smaller and cosier feel. The steps of the courtyard link the ground and second floor areas into an integrated playground.
Estonian Architecture Awards 2024
In recent years, Narva has become a stop for people wanting to take in high-quality new Estonian architecture. The sensitive context and urban space sill bearing the scars of the Second World War has lately seen energetic development. A new educational complex, replete with state high school, basic school and kindergarten was added not long ago, located in the historical fortified belt and former Baroque city centre designed in the second half of the 17th century. It has given the city centre of Narva a contemporary central quarter that has benefited from a carefully designed approach.
The complex skilfully interlaces old and new – a brand-new building connected to a building that was built in a 1930s Functionalist style and was actually completed in the 1960s, which today is home to the basic school (up to 9th grade). The complex also includes the newly completed Narva Old Town kindergarten with fascinating outdoor areas.
The building complex’s personality is defined by deliberately selected colour tones, shades and finishing materials that give each individual building its own nature. The interior architectural principles are uniform across different parts of the complex, reflecting the different age groups in each. The kindergarten’s interior is in mellow, neutral tones on which the kids can add their own colourful layer with their creative pursuits. The classroom furniture was designed with various openings to crawl through; this deconstructs the boundaries between rooms and encourages play. The kindergarten also has its own spa area where the little ones can be engaged in aquatic activities in a pool and take a sauna. The grounds outside offer a playful explosion of colours and the lively tones continue in the basic school part of the complex.
The basic school looks like a yellow paint bucket has burst, bringing verve into the everyday atmosphere and joy in darker times of the year. The bright yellow interior architecture is in strong contrast with the grey tonality of Narva, giving a totally different interior architecture experience for the older children. The historical nature of the building is perceptible but the interiors have been adapted to meet the needs of contemporary study. A work on the walls of the hallway in the teachers’ area stands out – the school was gifted the architects’ creative sketches from the building design phase. This idea ought to really become a tradition for other public buildings.
The high school part is a little more business-like, given that 10th to 12th graders are nearly full-grown. Youthful bluish-green tones dominate here. The architects clearly relished designing lounge and common leisure areas – often in short supply in schools – into the building’s volume. The library has received a particularly clever approach, interwoven to meeting points on two levels. These have proved popular among the students. Nothing was overlooked in the design of the complex – the new building also has a rehearsal room for the school band. If we could go back and do it all over again, this diverse school architecture that caters to all needs might just make us want to enrol as students ourselves!
Ruumipilt 2024